UPDATED: 6:30 p.m. ET
Confirming that demand for advertising time was not as strong as expected, CBS has wrapped up its upfront advertising sales with less money committed to the network than last season, according to people familiar with the situation.
ABC also wrapped its upfront deals, with volume about flat, according to sources.
Coming into the new season with solid ratings and a stable schedule, CBS met it goal of securing the highest prices increases among the broadcasters. Sources said CBS was getting a 8% to 9% more than last year on a cost-per-thousand viewers basic. CBS had no comment.
But CBS' upfront deals added up to somewhat less than last year's $2.65 billion, sources said. Prior to the upfront, CBS execs promised not to sell commercial time in the upfront market unless they met their price goals.
Last year upfront pricing and volume boomed with CBS getting double digit price increases.
ABC got price increase in the 6% to 7% range, according to sourced who noted that getting price increases in an uncertain economy was a pretty big deal for the broadcasters. Last year, ABC's volume was about $2.4 billion
It was unknown whether CBS or ABC made an upfront deal with General Motors, the big spending automaker that has been pressing networks for a rollback in pricing.
Because of GM and other factors, Fox was not done with its upfront deals, despite starting making deals earlier than CBS. Last week, the CW completed its upfront activity.
